Individuals who use contact lenses must regularly perform the task of placing a contact lens into each eye. The most common method of inserting a contact lens involves bathing the contact lens in a saline or other sterile lubricating solution, placing the contact lens on a fingertip and placing the lens onto the eye with the supporting finger. To do this the finger is placed under the contact lens to support the contact lens and the face of the individual is tilted downwards. At the same time, the eyelids of the eye receiving the lens are held open and the contact lens is lifted into the eye.
This technique has a number of problems. Firstly, it is difficult to see the contact lens when the finger is brought close to the eye since the image of the finger obscures the image of the lens. Secondly, since the wet contact lens merely rests upon the fingertip, the fingertip must be arranged to support the contact lens from below and thus requires that the face of the individual be tilted downwards when placing the contact lens in the eye. If the contact lens is not supported from below, it will tend to slide off of the fingertip as the individual attempts to insert it. This makes it difficult for an individual to use a mirror when inserting the contact lens to overcome the problem of having difficulty seeing the contact lens. Furthermore, having the head tilted downwards and balancing the contact lens on the fingertip is awkward and makes the task of placing a contact lens in the eye more difficult. Thirdly placing the contact lens in the eye with a fingertip can result in oils, dust, make-up, or other materials getting onto the contact lens which can cause contamination of the eye resulting in discomfort and in extreme cases infection.
One known device for applying a contact lens to the eye of an individual, is taught by Arthur C. Jermyn in U.S. Pat. No. 4,479,672 Oct. 30, 1984 entitled "Contact Lens Inserter". Jermyn teaches a contact lens inserter comprising a handle and a cup shaped portion for retaining the contact lens thereon. The handle is held between the thumb and a finger of one hand. The handle is angled at the end, which displaces the fingers from the line of sight to the contact lens so that the image of the finger does not obscure the image of the contact lens. The contact lens is retained on the cup portion while the person places the contact lens in the eye. This allows the person to insert the contact lens with the head in an upright position. This device however has the disadvantage that it requires the use of the thumb and finger of one hand to hold the handle when placing the contact lens in the eye. Positioning the inserter while holding it between the thumb and finger is more difficult than simply moving a single fingertip to the eye. In addition, holding the inserter between the thumb and finger of one hand requires that the fingers of the other hand hold open both the top and bottom eyelids which is also awkward.